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Pressure on Mark Jackson as Warriors seek consistency

Pressure's on Jackson as team is struggling

on February 13, 2014

Photo: Ross D. Franklin, Associated Press

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Golden State Warriors' Mark Jackson sits on the team bench in the closing moments during the second half of an NBA basketball game loss against the Phoenix Suns Saturday, Feb. 8, 2014, in Phoenix. The Suns defeated the Warriors 122-109. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Golden State Warriors' Mark Jackson sits on the team bench in the closing moments during the second half of an NBA basketball game loss against the Phoenix Suns Saturday, Feb. 8, 2014, in Phoenix. The Suns

The good news Wednesday night was that the Miami Heat came to town but everyone was focused on the Warriors. That would never have happened a few years ago. It would have been all LeBron James and South Beach and championship rings.

Not this week. But the bad news is that the Warriors are the talk because they're a confusing construction. And because, as pressure has been applied, the cracks are showing.

The Warriors lost a thriller to Miami 111-110 on a LeBron James three-pointer, and now head into the All-Star break. That's a good time for self-evaluation. They are nine games over .500. Their 31-22 record is one game better than where they were at the same time last year. They are in eighth place in the Western Conference. They are a good, not great, team. They have an All-Star starter. They are a national attraction.

But they have been inconsistent. They've played up to their opponent, as they did Wednesday taking the Heat to the wire, or down, as they did last week in a loss to Charlotte.

They are unaccustomed to this new pressure-filled environment. The pressure comes from overhyped expectations and from an ownership group that wants it all - fancy building, championship team, national acclaim, local worship - right now. And pressure always builds at the most vulnerable spot.

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Right now that spot is the head coach. Mark Jackson is, for want of a better target, the first place people look when they wonder about what's going on with the Warriors.

Jackson looked like a coach under pressure earlier this week, when he mishandled an injury matter and ended up appearing insecure and stressed. Owner Joe Lacob, in a lengthy interview this week, came off as a guy who could very easily make his coach insecure and stressed.

So the Warriors head into the break - and next week's trade deadline - with questions about team cohesion and how to handle expectations. These aren't the big ugly questions that used to plague the team: Why do they stink? Will they ever get better? But they're still important questions for a team trying to make it to the next level.

Lacob, in an interview with the San Jose Mercury News, noted that the Warriors had lost four bad games at home.

"The team wasn't ready in those games," Lacob said. He used the words "disappointed," "disturbing" and "concern." When asked directly if Jackson was doing a good job, Lacob didn't give an unequivocal vote of confidence, instead saying, "I think you're always evaluating everybody, whether it be the players, the coaches. ... It's hard to know."

Lacob is right: The team hasn't come out ready in some of its games. And that would appear to be a coaching issue. The Warriors haven't started well, haven't made great in-game adjustments. The offseason departure of Mike Malone, the Xs and Os guy, to Sacramento was a major blow. Last year, the Warriors had a perfect balance: a head coach with NBA credibility who created a good locker room combined with an expert assistant to handle basketball strategy. But Malone took his basketball mind to the Kings, disrupting that optimum balance, and the Warriors look exposed.

Jackson - who correctly pointed out that Lacob also said some nice things in the interview - said he and the owner have a great open-door relationship.

"He's a competitor - he's never satisfied, which is what you want," Jackson said. "He's a guy who's always going to be chasing greatness.

"I understand he talked about pressure. There's pressure in my entire life. That's not new to me, not new to my guys. What's new to my guys is all of a sudden the expectations and the bar has been raised. It's a process to learn how to handle it."

Jackson, too, is still learning on the job. That much was clear earlier this week when he described Andrew Bogut's injury as possibly occurring while "sleeping and I say that in all seriousness." That's a surprising thing to say about a player who has battled injuries and is sensitive to the issue. After Jackson spoke, Bogut called over two beat reporters and expressed his concern about what he had heard (the reporters did not approach him or relay Jackson's quotes to him - he already knew). Later, after a win over Philadelphia, rather than immediately talk about the game, Jackson chided the media saying, "please don't twist my words."

The entire incident was of Jackson's making and could have been avoided. It was also the impetus for the interview with Lacob and a new round of questions about what's going on with the Warriors.

Jackson handled things much better Wednesday, laughing when another part of the interview was mentioned.

"I didn't read that part," he said. "I stopped reading. I started to get depressed."

He was kidding. Jackson isn't depressed, but he is under pressure and under the microscope. And that's not going to change.